“His mom was super nervous” - Kevin Harvick reveals wife DeLana's anxiety over son Keelan's street stock racing debut

Keelan Harvick, the 11-year-old son of 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick, made his Street Stock debut at Jacksonville, North Carolina’s New River All-American Speedway, last weekend.

For the first time in his very young racing career, Keelan pulled off double-duty last weekend while also competing in the Legends division at New River All American Speedway. He shined at New River, winning the Legends race that he has dominated for the past several years and finishing second in the full-fledged stock car debut.

In the recent episode of “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour," NASCAR FOX Sports analyst Harvick shed light on the mix of emotions parents experience when their children pursue risky endeavors like racing. He revealed that his wife DeLana was nervous leading up to Keelan’s street stock racing debut.

“It's been a real learning curve from a parent standpoint as to what that balance needs to be with him, and his mom was super nervous this weekend with racing the street stock and full-size car. She was nervous the whole week before we left. She's like, You're not nervous. I'm like, I'm not. I've seen. I mean, his car control is really good. Obviously, he has a lot to learn, but I have a pretty high level of confidence in him,” Kevin Harvick said.

Keelan was in position to win the Street Stock race but missed a shift on a final restart and ended up finishing second to winner Tyler Smith. It was indeed a memorable debut for Keelan.

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“I've not seen him race like that before” – Kevin Harvick on his son’s victory in the Legend feature

Keelan’s win in the 30-lap Legends feature was a thriller. He swapped the lead back and forth with Jacob Staten multiple times before managing to secure it for the final time, coming to the white flag, finishing ahead of Aiden McConnaughey.

Expressing his views on his son’s dominating victory in the Legend feature, Kevin Harvick said on his podcast:

“The last lap right there, so they're coming to the Checker when he made that crossover, they were coming to the White Flag, so that was definitely an epic race. Keelan was pretty pumped that he got to race in front of that crowd; you could tell he was pretty determined.”

“ I've not seen him race like that before. I've seen him do a lot of great things, but to put together the last five laps like he did, I was pretty proud of him.”